Cookridge Primary School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Lynne Hunter Headteacher Cookridge Primary School Tinshill Drive Cookridge Leeds West Yorkshire LS16 7DH

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

Following my visit to the school on 12 June 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2013.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. During the period between October 2013 and July 2015, the school experienced a great deal of instability in staffing, including at senior leader level. Since your appointment as substantive headteacher in the summer of 2015, you have reviewed all areas of the school, with the support of the school improvement adviser from the local authority. You and your governors reviewed the school’s leadership structure and appointed permanent, experienced staff in key positions. These appointments included a deputy headteacher, an assistant headteacher, a leader with overview of pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities and phase leaders for key stage 1 and key stage 2. As a result, leadership and management have been strengthened further.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

You and your leaders are relentless in your drive for continuous school improvement. You have a clear vision for the school and it revolves around the ethos of lifelong learning. Senior leaders ensure that expectations are high, and all staff in the school put the children and pupils at the heart of everything they do. Senior leaders’ passion and commitment have refocused staff at all levels. As a result, outcomes for pupils have improved since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

You and your leadership team have successfully dealt with the areas for improvement identified in the last inspection report. At the last inspection, leaders were asked to improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently good or better and raise pupils’ achievement further. Following your review of teaching and learning in the school, you acted swiftly, and you took robust actions to eradicate weak teaching. Staff receive targeted support and the appropriate training you provide where needed. You set high expectations and you and your leaders accurately evaluate the quality of teaching and learning. Engaging and stimulating learning environments have been established across the school. Working closely with the local authority, leaders ensure that teachers’ assessments, at all key stages, are accurate. As a result, teaching across the school is consistently strong and outcomes of pupils have improved.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

Also, in the last inspection, leaders were asked to strengthen further the overall good leadership and management by ensuring that subject leaders were given the opportunity to monitor the quality of teaching more closely in their subjects. You and governors ensured that experienced and knowledgeable phase and subject leaders were put in place and you increased the levels of accountability. You introduced new systems for assessment, comprehensive data tracking and a more rigorous data analysis by leaders at all levels. Senior leaders introduced a robust monitoring system to check the quality of teaching and learning in the school. This monitoring involves subject leaders who focus closely on the progress of children and pupils in the school. As a result, leaders, at all levels, know well the strengths and weaknesses of different areas of the school.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

You and your leadership team have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose and records are detailed. There is a strong safeguarding culture in the school with seven members of staff designated to deal with any safeguarding concerns. You and your staff know the pupils well and the monitoring of pupils’ welfare is thorough and detailed.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

Appropriate checks are carried out on the suitability of all staff who work with pupils, including safer recruitment procedures. Your experienced safeguarding governor, who is also the chair of the governing body, monitors all areas of safeguarding thoroughly.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

Staff and governors receive appropriate training in child protection, including the dangers of radicalisation. All staff know what to do if they have any concerns about the children and pupils in your school. Inspection evidence indicates that staff meet regularly and discuss all concerns raised about pupils. The school shares information with external agencies effectively. Leaders act swiftly and monitor the impact closely.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

Pupils report that they feel safe in school and know who to go to if they have any concerns. They also say that bullying is very rare and when it does happen, teachers deal with it effectively. Inspection evidence and the views of parents and staff also support this.

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Short inspection of Cookridge Primary School

Relationships between staff and pupils are very positive. Pupils are polite and respectful to each other and to staff. As a result, behaviour in lessons and conduct around the school environment are very good.

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Inspection findings

 Since the last inspection in 2013, senior leaders have ensured that all staff have access to the extensive progress tracking information and that they use it effectively to identify and support pupils who underperform. Teachers and teaching assistants meet regularly to review the progress of pupils in their classes. You and your leaders have worked with the local authority to moderate the school’s assessment systems and ensure that they are accurate. As a result, current school assessment information indicates that outcomes for children and pupils in all key stages, in reading, writing and mathematics, have improved. Also, the proportion of pupils achieving standards at a greater depth of understanding has improved, in both key stage 1 and key stage 2. Where the attainment of some pupils falls below expected standards pupils make good progress from their starting points. Inspection evidence and scrutiny of pupils’

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Inspection findings

work confirm this.  In science, the outcomes of pupils at the end of Year 6 have improved since last year but the outcomes for pupils at the end of Year 2 remained the same as in 2017 and below national averages. The attainment and progress of disadvantaged pupils, in most subjects, has improved since last year, but the difference with their peers has not diminished as much as you wanted. Leaders acknowledge that more work is needed in these two areas and you have correctly identified them in your school development plan as ongoing areas for further development.  Leaders have ensured that the quality of teaching and learning is consistently good or better in the clear majority of lessons. You ensured that reading is a focus across all subjects, not just English. You raised the profile of reading through a range of initiatives, such as a different ‘mystery reader’ visiting the school every week and the ‘reading shed’ outside. As a result, reading outcomes

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Inspection findings

have improved, pupils are excited about, and display a love for, reading. Many pupils read frequently outside school.  You invested in appropriate resources for the teaching of mathematics. You also increased the focus on problem-solving and reasoning, and established routines in the classrooms. These provide pupils with opportunities to work independently and regularly practise mental arithmetic tasks. As a result, teachers provide appropriate challenge for all groups of pupils, including the most able and disadvantaged pupils. Teachers use targeted questioning effectively to probe understanding and support pupils’ progress.  Since the last inspection, you have linked the monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning to the progress of pupils. Teachers use the newly introduced and accurate assessments of pupils’ work to identify and plan work which meets the needs of all pupils. The improvement in the outcomes of pupils

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Inspection findings

in these areas is evidence of the positive impact of your actions. However, the systems for tracking pupils’ progress in non-core subjects, including science, are not as sharply developed. You and your leaders agreed with me that more work is needed in this area.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 they continue to improve the outcomes of all pupils in science, at the end of key stage 1 and key stage 2  they further develop systems for tracking the progress of all pupils in non-core subjects, including science  the difference between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and their peers continues to diminish year on year. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Leeds. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, your deputy headteacher, members of the extended leadership team, staff and governors. I also met with the local authority school improvement partner. I spoke to a range of pupils and parents. I listened to pupils read and, together, we conducted tours of the school and lessons, looking at pupils’ work and observing their learning. I also, alongside senior leaders, conducted a scrutiny of pupils’ work in a range of subjects.

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Information about the inspection

I scrutinised and evaluated a range of documents relating to safeguarding, behaviour, attendance, and school improvement. I took account of the 73 responses to Ofsted’s online questionnaire, Parent View, including the 66 extended responses from parents.

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